Empty Rooms
by TwilightFan2694
Summary: I adopted this story from Abbigail Cross who in turn had adopted it from eddie.always.wins. Involves Edward, Jazz, & Em on the football team and Bella, Rose, & Alice as cheerleaders. They like each other but don't know it. Read on to see what happens. AH
1. Chapter 1: Football Practice

**AN: So, I adopted this story from _Abbigail Cross_ who in turn adopted it from eddie. always_. wins._**

**I thought the story was amazing and it just had to be continued. The first 4 chapters are strictly _eddie. always__. wins. _Chapters 5 and 6 are both courtesy of _Abbigail Cross. _A huge thank you to both of them for the beginning of this story. So for now, this is from _eddie. always. wins._:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters. I also do not own this part of the story plot, that right goes to _eddie. always__. wins. _Later contributions come from _Abbigail Cross_. For now, I only have the right to take over the plot from chapter 7 and on. **

-Bella's POV-

"Bella! Oh, Bella! Bella, Bella, Bella! Get up, get up, get up! We have school today!" I was roughly shaken awake by a short little pixie jumping up and down on my bed.

"Oh God, Ali," I groaned. "Could you _not_ be so hyper at 6:00 in the morning? Or is that too much to ask?" Alice was my best friend, but really, no one should be so happy at such an ungodly hour as this.

"It's six-_thirty_, Bella," Alice corrected me.

"Come on Bells. There's football practice this morning and you know you wanna see those boys beating the crap out of each other," my other more sensible and persuasive best friend Rosalie tried to reason with me.

"Guys, do you really think that stalking the freaking football team is going to get us in with those extremely hot boys?" I said hoarsely, burying my head into my dark blue pillow.

"Bella," Alice said in a disbelieving tone. I just looked at her, confused.

"You know Tyler Crowley is, like, pining over you, right?" Rosalie said, plopping down in my bed, making Alice bob up and down for a moment before her knees collapsed and she fell on top of me.

"Tyler Crowley? The back-up quarterback? He doesn't really count as being on the team," I groaned, shoving Alice off of me. "I mean he hasn't had any field time this season, has he?"

"Well, no, but..." Rosalie trailed off, at a loss for how to convince me to get up.

"No, but Edward Cullen gets all the field time he could possibly want," Alice piped up. I had to hand it to the little pixie; she knew how to play tough.

Edward Cullen was the running back for our football team. He had scored almost all of the touchdowns so far this season, completing passes from the star quarterback, Jasper Whitlock. Their best friend, Emmett McCarty, was also a running back on the team, but he was more like the brick wall, shielding Edward as he ran Jasper's passes to the end zone. The three boys carried the football team to victory at every game. They were lusted after by every girl in the school, including myself and my two best friends (though we didn't throw ourselves at them the way the other girls did) and strangely enough, they were all single.

Although we were cheerleaders and went to every game and tried to talk to the boys, they always seemed more than capable of ignoring us; great for my already lacking self-esteem. Edward and I had almost every class together and he sat next to me in each one, but never actually talked to me. Alice and Jasper had math together and she had barely managed to get three words from him all year: "Pass them back." (they had a worksheet for homework). Rosalie didn't have any classes with Emmett, but that didn't stop her from passing his locker after nearly every class. She had made more leeway than either Alice or I had. Emmett always glanced at her as she passed, his eyes traveling up her legs slowly and gazing at her face almost longingly. At least he knew she existed.

I looked at Alice, raising my eyebrows before I pushed my covers off of myself and got to my feet, starting to wobble over to my closet to find something to wear.

"Uh uh uh uh uh," Alice hissed at me, rushing over to my side with a pile of clothes in her hands. "Bella, you should know by now that I simply can't trust you to dress yourself. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to choose this morning's outfit for you."

I rolled my eyes at my best friend as I took the pile from her and made my way to the bathroom that was connected to my room instead. I was tucked away in the bathroom before I had even looked at the clothes Alice had handed me.

My eyes widened as they took in the low, V-neck blue shirt that the pixie had picked for me, no doubt wanting me to 'flaunt what I got' as she so often put it. Searching the bathroom for a tank top that I could possibly put on under the shirt, I smiled as I spotted the perfect shade of blue hanging on the hook of the door. I walked over and pulled it down from the hook and over my head, happy to see that it covered most of my cleavage.

After I had put on the shirt Alice had picked out for me, I turned to the skirt Alice had given me. _Wait, skirt? No, no, no. I don't do skirts, _I thought to myself as I unfolded the scanty amount of cloth and shook it out, hoping that another fold would come out, making it a few inches longer. No such luck.

I pulled the skirt on much more regretfully than I had the shirt and stood back to study myself in the mirror. The skirt wasn't as short as I had feared; it reached just below mid-thigh and made my legs look longer and more defined than I knew them to be. It was an altogether very nice ensemble. I had to give Alice credit, once again. She sure could pull together a good outfit.

"Alright, miss self-conscious. Get out of there so we can get to work on your hair," Rosalie drawled through the door.

_Oh yeah, the hair,_ I reminded myself as I studied it in the mirror. As per usual, it looked like a haystack; if hay ber brown, that is. I braced myself for Alice's disappointment when she saw what I added to the outfit and opened the door to face the fashion duo.

"Bella," Alice whined. "You look really pretty."

"Oh thanks, Alice," I said sarcastically. "You sound oh-so enthusiastic about that."

"I didn't want you to look pretty. I wanted you to look sexy, unattainable. Edward needs to see you as a challenge," she explained.

"And having my boobs thrust in his face all day would make him view me as a challenge how, exactly?"

"You'd be too hot for him to have, therefore he would have to go for it," Rosalie said. "That's how I get all the guys."

Here's the thing about Rose. I know she can come off as a bit of a stuck-up bitch, but she's really a nice person. And she's got some insecurities too, surprisingly. You see, her parents are divorced and they both have these really time-consuming jobs that have them traveling all the time. They're never around for her and I know it bothers her. That's why she's so into looking perfect all the time. She likes the attention of the boys, not that she ever gives any attention back to them.

"Aw, Rose, always the modest one," I rolled my eyes playfully as I sat down in the chair in front of her.

"Shut it, loser," Rose joked, pushing me further into the chair as she picked up the straightener from the table next to her, brandishing her torture weapons at me menacingly.

Barely half an hour later, we walked onto the school campus (my house was just around the corner from the school and Rose could work wonders with a straightener). There was hardly anyone there, seeing as it was only 7:00 and classes didn't start for more than another hour.

"I can't believe ya'll woke me up more than an hour before I had to be up just so we could come here and watch people fight over a pigskin ball," I hissed as we quietly and quickly scrambled up into the bleachers, where most of the cheerleading team was situated already.

"Hey, Bella!" Jessica Stanley screeched from the upper left corner of the bleachers. "I love your skirt! Where'd you get it?"

"Hey, Jess," I said quietlyas I neared her, both Rosalie and Alice huffing in annoyance behind me. I was painfully aware that play on the field had stopped when Jessica had yelled out to me and knew that the entire team was probably watching me walk up the bleachers in my extremely short skirt. "I don't know. Ask Alice."

Jessica turned to Alice expectantly, but Alice pretended to be deep in conversation with Rosalie (they had very low tolerance for fake people and Jessica Stanley was the definition of fake).

"Well, we're going to sit over there," I said hurriedly as I spotted Lauren approaching from the other side of Jessica. For some reason, unknown to me, the girl hated me and was always trying to start a fight with me.

I smiled at Jessica politely and grabbed Rosalie and Alice, pulling them quickly back down to about the middle of the bleachers.

"God, I hate those girls. They give cheerleaders a bad name," Rosalie rolled her eyes, glaring up at Lauren and Jessica.

"Yeah. Jessica just wants to be your friend because more guys like you than like her and she figures she can get second choice. Lauren just hates you because Tyler is like obsessed with you and she's obsessed with him," Alice huffed. "High school drama is so petty."

"I know, but we only have one year left of this. Just focus on that. Soon enough, we'll be out of this school and up at college, away from these stupid people and making out own lives. Together. As best friends. As sisters," I said, pulling my legs up to rest on the seat next to me before I remembered I was in a skirt and was probably giving someone a nice little show. I quickly set my feet back on the ground in front of me.

"Yes! That's true!" Alice squealed excitedly as Rosalie nodded her head along side her. "I can't wait until we'll all be roomies! It's going to rock so hardcore!"

"Yeah. It's really great that we all found a college that offered classes we were interested in," Rosalie said. "I would hate it if I had to go to school and room with some random girls that know nothing about me."

"That would be horrible," I shuddered.

"Shut up, Bells," Alice sighed. "You're so self-conscious that you can't even see that everyone who talks to you loves you to death. I mean, it's hard not to. Unless you're a fake little bitch like those girls up there."

We all turned and glanced up at Lauren and Jessica, who were biting their lips and trying to look sexy for the football players. I rolled my eyes and turned to look at Alice and Rose, only to see that we had all rolled our eyes at the same time. We burst out laughing, an uproarious sound that echoed around the quiet bleachers.

We stopped abruptly, looking out onto the field to see if we had interrupted practice, but it didn't appear that we had. Only three boys were looking curiously up at us. My breath caught in my throat as my eyes locked with... Edward Cullen's.

-Edward's POV-

Our practice was almost over and we were about to head for the showers when a loud round of laughter reached my ears from up in the bleachers. I turned to look for the source, noticing that my two best friends, Jasper and Emmett, were looking around too.

I found the source: three cheerleaders sitting in the middle of the bleachers. I would have been annoyed had it been anyone other than who it was. Bella Swan, the sheriff's daughter, and her two best friends. Now, I'd never really talked to Bella, but that didn't stop me from noticing things about her.

Like the fact that she was amazing at English and Biology, but barely staying afloat in math. Her eyes were brown, but not that plain, dull, shallow brown that is so common among the student body here; no, Bella's eyes were deep, beautiful, insightful, the kind I could just stare into for hours. The color blue looked gorgeous on her and she had killer legs (which I was free to admire and would surely be paying a lot of attention to in my classes today as she was wearing a short skirt). Despite the fact that she was clearly brilliant and beautiful and nearly every boy in the school would do anything to sleep with her, Bella was kind to everyone and shy.

Although we had almost every class together, we had never spoken a word to each other, not that I hadn't tried. She was just too shy to approach. I didn't think that she even knew I existed. As I contemplated this thought, Bella looked up and her eyes locked onto mine. A beautiful blush flooded her cheeks when she saw me looking at her and she quickly turned away to whisper something to her friends just as Coach Varderman blew the whistle, stealing my attention momentarily as I listened to his analysis of our practice, giving advice where needed, before dismissing us as a team to go to the showers.

As I walked across the field in between Jasper and Emmett, I glanced over my shoulder to the bleachers, hoping for one last peek at Bella before school officially started, but she was gone along with Alice and Rosalie.

"They left right after Coach blew the whistle," Emmett said knowingly.

"Who?" I asked, deciding to play dumb.

"Don't give us that crap, man. You act like we don't know you like Bella," Jasper said, slapping my back encouragingly.

"Yeah. We noticed the girls looking at us. Bella was so fantasizing about you," Emmett joked.

"Shut up, man," I groaned. "Rose was like probably imagining you in bed with her."

"Dude, that was all me. I would kill to get into her bed. Or get her into mine. Whichever she'd prefer," Emmett grinned.

"Man, that's so wrong," Jasper groaned.

"Jasper, you know Alice is so into you, right?" Emmett said, turning on Jasper now. "I'll bet she's great in bed. I hear she's a feisty little thing."

"Emmett, you act like you're this sex god or something when you're actually a virgin. Stop acting like a total guy and learn to respect women," I said, resenting my best friend's mind. He could be the epitome of a seventeen year old boy sometimes.

"Aw. Come on Eddie, don't act like you've never thought about it before," Emmett rolled his eyes. Well, he had a point there. I thought about it, but thinking about something and talking about it were two different things completely.

Just as I was about to voice my thoughts, Coach walked in the locker room, brushing past us as we stood by our lockers, still fully clothed in our uniforms.

"Come on, boys. Class in fifteen minutes. Time to talk later. Time to shower now," Coach Varderman said as he closed himself off in his office.

"Can the man never form a complete sentence?" Jasper whispered as we began to undress and made our way to the showers.

**Ok, so there was chapter one, originally by _eddie. always__. wins_. Quite the chapter if I do say so myself. I can only hope to keep up with such genius when it comes to continuing. My own writing starts after chapter 6. So, I just wanted to say I am thrilled to have the chance to contribute to such a wonderful story. **


	2. Chapter 2: Cheerleading Practice

**AN: Okay, Chapter 2 is finally reproduced here. Original genius belongs to _eddie. always. wins. _**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, any of the characters, or the original idea behind this story. **

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-Bella POV-

I was sitting in my first period, English. Edward wasn't there and I was struggling to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. My mind kept wandering to Edward, wondering why he wasn't here and what was wrong and yadda yadda yadda.

About fifteen minutes into the class, the door opened and every head turned curiously to see who it was.

Edward himself walked into the classroom, shooting the teacher an apologetic look and mumbling his excuse to her as he walked toward his desk, which was right next to mine.

As he slid in next to me, I saw his eyes dance over to me for a moment, smiling in my direction. I looked behind me; maybe Jessica or Lauren or someone was back there, but there was no one, as usual.

I turned back to Edward, who was still looking at me expectantly and smiled back at him hesitantly, shyly. I quickly looked back to my classwork, deciding that I should try to get started on the assignment I had been avoiding as I had been thinking about Edward instead. Our assignment was an hour long free-write session and the next thirty minutes would be spent with us reading our compositions to the class.

As I put my pen to the paper, I could think of nothing to write about. An image of Edward as he walked into the classroom popped into my head, green eyes blazing, his hair a deeper shade, almost brown from the wetness of the shower he had obviously just taken, his muscles rippling under his tight shirt, probably warm from the exertion of practice this morning.

When I looked back down at my paper, I was surprised to find that there were a multitude of words written there. I quickly scanned them. Wondering where they had come from; I certainly didn't remember writing them, but they were written in my handwriting. I guess Edward inspires me. The words weren't even embarrassing or about him, just words, feelings, emotions reflected brilliantly on a paper.

I was smiling to myself, quite proud of my unintentional accomplishment, when the teacher called Edward's name.

"Mr. Cullen! You arrived to class fifteen minutes late, I would assume that you'd take the time you have now to catch up to the rest of the class instead of stare at Miss Swan the entire period!"

My head snapped up to look at him; he was blushing lightly, his ears turning a brilliant shade of red. I quickly looked back down at my desk as I felt my own face getting hot.

"Yes ma'am," Edward mumbled and I heard paper rustling around on his desk as he pulled out his notebook and flipped it open.

The next ten or so minutes were spent in a dead silence that permeated the entire classroom as everyone worked on their writing. I had just finished fixing my paper when Edward hissed my name, chuckling slightly. I looked up at him questioningly and he smiled at me, gesturing with his head out the door.

Looking behind him to the door, I saw Alice jumping around trying to get my attention. I gasped in surprise; she was making a total fool of herself and half the class was gawking out the window at her.

Alice's hair bounced up and down as she smiled excitedly at me, waving enthusiastically for me to join her outside the classroom. I shook my head discreetly, pointing at the teacher, trying to get the point across that Mrs. Hardwick wouldn't let me out of class.

Rolling her eyes, Alice opened the door and strode confidently up to the teacher.

"Can I help you, Miss Brandon?" Mrs. Hardwick asked.

"Actually, ma'am, I was hoping you would let Bella out of class just for a minute. You see, I accidentally put my purse in her locker this morning and I don't know her combination and I need certain lady items out of it like _now,_" Alice lied convincingly, her brazenness startling the elderly woman, who nodded and gestured for me to leave with Alice.

"Thank you so much," Alice said sincerely as I got up from my seat and made my way self-consciously up the aisle toward the front of the room. Of course, being me, the world's klutziest cheerleader, I tripped over someone's book bag and very nearly landed on my face, but I caught myself at the last second on the edge of that person's desk.

"Oh gosh, Bella, I'm so sorry," Tyler Crowley said immediately. I looked up to see that it had been his bag I tripped over. I didn't even know he was in my English class. Whoops. My bad.

"No, it's all good Tyler. The floor was just getting lonely for me and decided to cheat, but I showed it. I'm fine, really," I said. Then, realizing how very stupid that must have sounded, I did the other thing I did better than any other person in the world; I blushed.

"Haha, oh Bella. You're really funny," Tyler said, laughing sincerely.

"Well, I gotta go. Talk to you later, Tyler," I said, seeing Alice waiting impatiently for me at the door.

"Wow, could you give the boy any more false hope?" Alice chuckled the moment I closed the door behind me.

"What are you talking about, Alice?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"Tyler Crowley. You were totally flirting with him, or that's what he thought."

Great. Just what I needed; for Tyler to get it even more ingrained in his head that I liked him.

"Well, did anyone else think it looked like I was flirting?" I asked in what I hoped was an offhand voice.

"You mean Edward?" Alice clarified. "No. He was watching in amusement. Not like, 'oh man that chick's whack,' more like 'oh man, that dude's setting himself up for heartbreak.' I think Edward likes you. I mean, when you tripped he very nearly jumped out of his seat to help you."

"Alice, you're so full of it. Edward Cullen does not like me," I rolled my eyes. "What did you pull me out of class for, by the way?"

The effect was immediate. Alice started jumping up and down excitedly and clapped her hands together happily.

"We need to get Rose first. Then I'll tell you," Alice said happily as we stopped in front of Rosalie's class. We got her attention quickly and Rose immediately stood up and walked toward the teacher, swaying her hips seductively. She said something to Mr. Bankston, flashing him her best smile and he nodded to her from behind his desk, watching as she sauntered away from him and to the door.

Once she got out of the classroom, her saunter became more of a stroll as we started walking in no particular direction.

"So, what's up?" Rosalie asked, her tone showing her boredom.

"I talked to Jasper!" Alice exclaimed, making it just how obvious it was that she had been dying to tell us that.

"Did ya'll have another worksheet to do or something?" I asked.

"No. We like actually talked. You know, like a conversation," Alice said indignantly.

"Really..?" Rosalie said skeptically.

"Really. I started the conversation too! I started talking to him about football practice and apologized for interrupting it with our laughter. Then he told me that it was alright since practice had been almost over anyway and he asked if we were riding the bus with them to the game on Friday. I thought that was a stupid question since the cheerleaders always ride the bus with the football team, but I was happy about it anyway. So I told him we were and he said that he would sit toward the back so that we could all sit together and talk, so I asked what he meant by all of us and he said you guys, me, Edward and Emmett and him. So I said that that would be really cool and then he was about to say something else when the teacher came in and started talking," Alice said quickly. "Then he smiled at me and turned his attention to the board."

"Wow. That's awesome, Alice. I'm proud of you," Rose said, obviously impressed that someone other than her had made plans for all of us to get with guys we actually liked.

"Thanks," Alice smiled.

"So, Bella, you gonna talk to Edward anytime soon?" Rosalie said, turning her blue eyes to survey me.

"Rose," I groaned. "I can't talk to him. He's just so… so unapproachable. He's gorgeous and perfect and every girl in this school loves him and wants him and if he doesn't want any of them, then why on earth would he want me?" I said despairingly. "I'd be better off just going for Tyler. I mean, at least I know he likes me."

"Isabella Marie Swan!" Alice exclaimed. "I can't believe you would say that! You know damn well that Tyler doesn't like you for your personality, just your body. He wants a one-night stand from you, not a relationship, so don't even consider going out with him!"

"Whatever, that doesn't change the fact that girls much, much prettier than me have thrown themselves at Edward and he hasn't paid them any attention. There's no way he would ever want me," I said stubbornly.

"Bella, you really don't see how beautiful you are, do you?" Rose said sadly. "Bells, you are so pretty without even trying. I mean, you could come to school in a sweatsuit and look better than most of the girls here. Other girls all pile make up by the tons on their faces to cover up for what they're lacking; true beauty, something you have so much of. Bella, I am jealous of your beauty."

I stared at Rose, my mouth hanging open. Then I shook my head in disbelief. "No way. I am not pretty. I don't care what you guys say. I'm the plainest Jane in the school," I said.

"Well there aren't any Janes that actually go to this school, so that's not saying much. Besides, your name isn't even Jane," Alice said matter-of-factly.

"Whatever. I have to get back to class. We're supposed to be writing something to read to the class and I haven't finished," I said, turning away immediately and heading in the opposite direction, toward my English class again.

I knew that they meant well, trying to convince me that I was pretty and all, but I knew for a fact that I wasn't pretty. I mean, I'd never had a boyfriend before and I was a senior in high school. If that doesn't mean I'm ugly, then what does?

-Edward POV-

When I saw Bella starting to fall in class, I almost jumped out of my seat to catch her, but she caught herself.

I heard Tyler Crowley apologizing to Bella for making her trip, and heard her comment; something about the floor being lonely. She's just too cute. She said it in a friendly tone. Friendly as in _just friends_, so it was quite amusing for me to watch Tyler's eyes light up in the hopes that there could be something there for him to grasp onto.

Bella quickly walked away from Tyler and out the classroom and I redirected my attention to the paper on my desk. No, no. What I had written just wouldn't do. It was too obvious. Being in love with the shy girl next door? Not at all subtle. I quickly grabbed a new sheet of paper and started scribbling away.

Just as I put my pen down, finally satisfied with my work, the door opened again and Bella came back in, looking a little sad. She lowered herself down into her seat and opened her notebook. Bella looked up at me and caught me staring at her… again. A light blush crossed her cheeks as we locked eyes for a moment.

"Hi," she whispered, her blush deepening a bit.

"Hey. What was that about?" I asked, mentally kicking myself for asking that. It was none of my business what she and her best friend talked about.

"Huh? Oh. Alice?" Bella replied. "Oh, nothing much. She just wanted to talk about something stupid, really."

I nodded my head, feeling ridiculous for being unable to think of anything else to say, but Bella put an end to the awkward silence.

"So, ya'll looked good today," she said, her eyes widening as she realized how that must have sounded. "I-I mean, at practice. You know, good form…" she trailed off, blushing deeper than before.

"Thanks," I whispered, smiling as Mrs. Hardwick called on Tyler to read his composition to the class.

It was after fifth period and I was slightly behind Bella as we both walked toward our lockers, which were right next to each other. I was desperately trying to think of something to say to her when Emmett came running up to me, pulling me into a headlock.

"Dude! What the hell!" I exclaimed, ramming my elbow into Emmett's stomach to make him release his hold on me. I straightened up to look at him and saw that he looked excited about something. "What's up?"

"Dude! I'm gonna ask her!" Emmett said proudly as we reached my locker, where Jasper was waiting for us.

"Ask who what?" Jasper asked, looking for me to fill him in.

"I don't know. He hasn't gotten that far yet," I shrugged as I opened my locker and put my books in.

"Rosalie Hale. I'm going to ask her out," Emmett explained. I turned my head slightly to my left to look in Bella's direction, knowing full well that she was within hearing range of us and was best friends with Rosalie, but she wasn't paying any attention to us. She was talking animatedly to Alice, who looked excited about something, which really wasn't strange for her.

"That's nice, Em," Jasper said as I nodded.

"But have you ever even talked to her?" I asked.

"Dude, we don't need to talk. Rosalie and me, we don't need words t understand each other. We just connect," Emmett said, his hand on his chest.

"Alright. Well, if you're so well connected to Rosalie, tell us about her," Jasper said, his tone amused.

"Sure thing, man. Okay here goes: Rosalie, she's like… she's got a hard shell, but I think that once you get past the tough exterior she's probably like really sensitive. Like, I think she's deeper than people give her credit for. I mean, she is friends with Bella Swan, she has to be a good person. I think she's like this genuinely innocent, sweet person," Emmett said confidently and I wondered how long he had been thinking about that to come up with what to say, but before I could ask, Rosalie's angry voice reached our ears.

"I FUCKING HATE EVERYONE! NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS, IT'S ALL A LIE. WHY DO I CONSTANTLY FALL FOR IT? OVER AND OVER AND FUCKING OVER AGAIN!" Rosalie huffed, suddenly appearing at Bella's locker between Alice and Bella, who exchanged knowing looks before they each placed a hand on Rose's shoulder and steered her toward us, closing Bella's locker as they started to walk past us, Rosalie storming along in front of the other two.

"Parents?" I heard Alice ask quietly.

"You think?" Bella replied sarcastically, shifting her books to her left hand as they picked up the pace after Rosalie.

"Yeah, she's just a cuddly little teddy bear," Jasper said under his breath once the three girls had all disappeared down the hall.

"Man, everyone has their bad days, you know?" Emmett said defensively.

"Yeah, that's very true," I said. "Hey, do we have a lunch practice?"

"I don't think so," Jasper replied. "I think the cheerleaders have the field during lunch today."

"Dude! Let's go watch!" Emmett said excitedly.

"Emmett! We can't go watch the cheerleaders practice!" I protested.

"Why not? They always come watch us practice," Emmett had a point there. I looked at Jasper, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright," I sighed. "Fine. But let's get some lunch first and then eat in the bleachers."

Emmett and Jasper nodded their heads in agreement and we started off towards the cafeteria where we each loaded up a tray of food and paid, before leaving the cafeteria again and walking off towards the football field where the cheerleaders sometimes practiced.

"So, Emmett, how do you know you and Rosalie really click when you've never talked to her?" Jasper asked as we walked up to the bleachers and sat down. I picked up an apple and bit off a huge chunk of it, chewing it carefully as I watched Emmett for his reaction.

"I honestly don't know, man. It's just… look, I know I'm kind of a pervert and all and I act like I don't respect girls or anything, but with Rosalie I feel different. I actually want to get to know her and have a real relationship with her. Sex is not on my mind," Emmett said between bites of pizza, making both Jasper and I snort in disbelief.

"No sex, eh?" I chuckled.

"Alright, so I do think about sex… with Rosalie… a lot. But I mean, I actually do want a relationship. Sex isn't like my main concern or anything," Emmett amended, rolling his eyes.

"That's a very honorable notion," Jasper said. "So I talked to Alice today."

"Really? How did that go?" I asked curiously.

"She's a little high-strung, but she's really cool. I think we're all sitting together on the way to the game Friday. Like, you guys and Alice, Rosalie and Bella," Jasper shrugged. "What about you? Any luck with Bella?"

"We talked a little bit. She said that we looked good at practice this morning and that was pretty much it," I said nonchalantly as the cheerleaders came walking out onto the field, Bella and Alice trailing a little behind Rosalie, who still looked pretty pissed.

"Alright! Let's practice this routine and get it down-pat because we have no room for failure here. If we don't nail this routine, you can just kiss your Saturdays goodbye because you'll be here, practicing all the god damned day!" Rosalie growled. She was obviously the captain, although Bella and Alice both stood up front with her, facing the rest of the team. They must have all bee officers.

"What's got her panties in a bunch? I think she needs a stiff one," Lauren stage-whispered to the rest of the girls, very few of whom seemed at all amused; most of them rolled their eyes at Lauren's comment, but Rosalie stiffened, obviously about to lash out at Lauren, but Bella beat her to the punch.

"You know, Lauren, maybe you shouldn't talk. I mean, from what I've heard, you haven't been on any kind of date in a good two months. I'm sure James is open, but... oh, wait, you want that pathetic little bench-warming football player, don't you? Tyler not showing any interest in you? Aw, that's just too bad, but don't take it out on the team," Bella said coldly. She and Lauren obviously didn't get along very well. She then turned to Rosalie, her expression and her voice softening. "The same goes for you, Rose. You're co-captain, not head captain. We have to compromise here."

Rosalie nodded, rolling her eyes before she stalked out to the center of the field, getting in position.

"Wow. Cheerleaders can be pretty bitchy, huh guys?" Jasper chuckled.

"Yeah. I'm glad guys don't hold grudges or do anything like what just happened down there," Emmett said gratefully.

We watched as the rest of the lunch hour passed with no more drama. It was pretty uneventful (if you could call watching more than a dozen hot girls jumping around in sports bras uneventful). About fifteen minutes before lunch ended, the girls called it quits and started back to the locker rooms to change and shower, I'm guessing.

"I'm glad we came," Emmett sighed happily.

"I'm sure you are," Jasper laughed as we stood up, picking up our lunch trays, and started the five minute walk back across campus to the cafeteria. As soon as we reached the cafeteria, of course, I realized that I didn't have my book bag.

"Shit! I left my bag! I'll be right back," I said quickly as I turned around and started back for the football field.

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**Review? =)**


	3. Chapter 3: Adoption

**AN: I bet readers are wondering if I have finally gone crazy, having more than one chapter posted in the same day, but I am determined to post everything written by my predecessors tonight. So, readers can expect up to Chapter 6 tonight. Once again, let's thank _eddie. always. wins. _for this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or the beginnings of this plot. As for this chapter, I adopted it. **

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-Edward's POV-

"Edward"

"Edward! Edward! Hi!" I heard a high-pitched, breathy voice call out to me. I cringed as I recognized who it belonged to: Jessica Stanley.

"Hello Jessica," I said, unable to hide the resentment and boredom in my voice as I turned to face her, not that she noticed.

"I saw you watching us! Did you like what you saw?" she asked in what she obviously considered a seductive voice. She leaned in closer to whisper in my ear, "I know why you were there."

I gulped nervously. "You do?" I asked.

"Yes. But don't worry. I like you too," she said matter-of-factly.

"Oh," I said blankly. She thought that I liked her? HA! The idea was laughable. "I think you've misunderstood me."

"Oh, I don't. Come on, Edward. I can give you exactly what you want," Jessica whispered, trailing her hands up my chest as I struggled not to shudder. She wanted me to sleep with her. Just the idea of committing that act with _her_ was enough to make me gag.

"Well, what I want is to go get my book bag. Bye," I said hurriedly, turning away from her and sprinting up the bleachers until I reached the spot where I had been sitting just a few minutes earlier.

Sighing in relief to be away from the vile Jessica Stanley, I sank down into the seat, finding my book bag at my feet, just where I had left it. I leaned back, resting against the bench behind me and let my head fall back. A flash of white caught my attention from the corner of my eye.

I turned to see Bella sitting down on the bleachers at the end of a row a few rows in front of me, book in hand, as always.

Smiling, I stood up and started walking towards her, bringing my book bag with me. Just before I reached her, I heard someone calling my name.

"Edward!" I turned around to see Jasper and Emmett standing on the other side of the field. Had it not been for the concerned looks on their faces, I would have been extremely pissed off. Jasper started sprinting across the field toward me. I stood there watching him, unsure if I should stay to talk to Bella or find out what exactly my friends looked freaked out about.

"It's about Madison," Jasper called when he got close enough for me to hear.

That got my attention. I sprinted down the bleachers toward Jasper, passing a startled Bella and skidded to a halt in front of my best friend.

"What is it?" I breathed.

"I don't know. Your dad just called the school and said something about Madison and you had better get home to help your mom out or something. I don't know anything for sure," Jasper told me.

"Shit," I gasped. I slung the strap to my book bag over my shoulder and sprinted past Jasper. I passed Emmett, who was still on the other side of the field. He yelled something about covering for me before I reached the gate separating the football field from the student parking lot. I shoved my feet through the chain links and climbed up and over the gate, launching myself with my feet from the metal to land a good ten feet away.

I weaved through the cars until I reached my silver Volvo and wrenched open the door, throwing my bag over the seat to land in the back as I started the car, backed out of my parking space and sped off out of the parking lot.

-Bella POV-

That was really, really weird. And scary. One second, I hear Jasper and Emmett calling Edward's name and then he's sprinting down the bleachers from behind me. I didn't even know he was there. Jasper told him something and he sprinted away, clambering over the chain fence and running to his car before peeling out of the parking lot.

I closed the book I had just opened on my lap and just sat there, confused, trying to figure out what had happened. Before I could come up with any kind of solution, though, Alice and Rose came out of the locker room and walked over to me.

"Hey, Bella," Alice said happily before she noticed my face. "What's wrong?"

I stared at her for a moment before shrugging my shoulders. "Nothing."

"Ooookay then. Well, I don't know about you, Bella, but I am very curious as to what exactly got our dear, dear Rosalie pissed off earlier," Alice said, looking pointedly at Rose.

"Ah, as am I," I smirked, glad that I didn't have to tell Alice anything about Edward. She probably would have said something ridiculous like he likes me or something.

Rosalie heaved a huge sigh. "Alright, so you know how my mom promised, promised, and promised again that she wouldn't be going on anymore 'business trips' for a while; at least until I graduated from high school? Well, that was total bullshit. She's leaving tomorrow to go to Florida for a week."

I threw my head back and groaned in sympathy for my friend. "Aw, Rose," I sighed. "You know if you want to stay at my place, you can."

"No, Bella, I'm fine. In the shower, I was thinking and I came to the conclusion that I am going to take advantage of my mother's horrible parenting skills. I'm going to throw a party after the game on Friday and ya'll are going to help me," Rose said confidently as the bell rang. She smiled at us before starting to walk across the field to go to class.

"Alice, I have a bad feeling about this," I whispered warily to my friend, who merely looked excited.

"I don't. This is going to be awesome. After the football game… boys celebrating. Those boys…" she said, looking pointedly at Jasper and Emmett, the latter of which was watching Rose walk away as Jasper looked straight back at Alice. "Hey, where's Edward?"

"I don't know. I'm not a stalker or anything," I said defensively.

"I wasn't suggesting anything like that. Way to get defensive, Bells," Alice said suspiciously as we caught up to Rosalie.

"Well, I was waiting for you two to get out of the locker room and I was just sitting there reading when Jasper started yelling something to Edward. He said something about having to help his mom with Madison and then Edward was running off and he jumped in his car and drove away," I admitted. "I didn't even know he was there, but apparently he was like right behind me."

"Madison… A girl. I wonder what that's all about," Rosalie said, looking at Alice, who raised her eyebrows.

"I don't even want to know. I mean, I told you guys that there was no use for ya'll to even pretend that there was a chance for me with him. I don't care who this Madison is; she could be his sister, his long-lost girlfriend, whatever. I don't care and I don't want you guys trying to figure it out either, okay?" I said menacingly, turning to face my best friends, my heart jumping to my throat when I saw Jasper and Emmett just a little bit further behind us, but I couldn't tell if they had heard anything; they were talking quietly.

"Okay, okay, okay. Geez, chill, Bella," Alice soothed me as we went our separate ways to class; me going to Biology and the other two to their English class, but not before I heard Alice mutter something to Rose. "I do wonder."

School was out, thank God. We were sitting in Rosalie's gaudy red… something or other… convertible car when Alice suddenly squealed excitedly.

"Rosalie, offer them a ride," she said giddily.

"Perfect," Rose purred. I looked around, confused, and saw Jasper and Emmett walking down the street with their book bags on their shoulders. Great, just great. My crush's best friends, who may or may not know that I like him, are going to be in the same car as me, flirting up a storm with _my_ best friends. Perfect indeed.

Rosalie stopped the car right next to them and rolled down her window. "You guys need a lift?" she said, smirking at Emmett, who looked back at her longingly. The two boys glanced at each other and nodded at the same time. Alice opened her door eagerly and bounced around to the back seat.

"Here, Emmett. You can sit in the front. Jasper can sit in the back with Bella… and me," she said, looking at Jasper, who nodded. Alice jumped into the car next to me in the middle seat, and Jasper climbed in beside her.

I was grateful that Jasper was the one that sat in the back with us because if the monstrously big Emmett had been the one to climb back here, it would have been one extremely long, uncomfortable ride.

"So where are you guys headed?" Rosalie asked, glancing over at Emmett and then, as an afterthought, back at Jasper.

"Wherever you're going," Emmett said boldly.

"If you want us, that is. We're kind of bored," Jasper said thoughtfully.

"You're bored? We've been out of school a grand total of, like, five minutes. How could you be bored?" I asked, chuckling.

"Hey, we're guys. We require constant entertainment," Emmett defended himself and Jasper.

"Well then… You guys wanna come over to my house? We can certainly keep you… entertained," Rose said as Alice caught her eye in the rearview mirror and they giggled. I rolled my eyes and shook my head slightly as I heard Emmett and Jasper's collective intake of breath.

They were laying on the flirting so disgustingly heavily. It was disgusting, yet at the same time, admirable. Why couldn't I be that way? Why couldn't Edward like me the way Emmett and Jasper so obviously liked Rosalie and Alice?

I guess I spaced out because the next thing I knew, I was sitting in Rosalie's living room with the others with no recollection of having walked from the car. It was really… not unusual for me to space out like that.

I don't know what we were talking about; I was feeling kind of out of it when Jasper's phone rang.

"Hey, what's up?" he answered casually, looking up at Emmett. "Yeah Rosalie gave us a ride... No, actually… we're at her house right now… Yeah, with Alice, Rose and _Bella_."

I didn't miss the way he stressed my name, nor the wink he shot at Emmett, not even the amused glance that Rosalie and Alice shared.

"Yeah dude, come on over," Jasper said. "That's cool, isn't it Rose?" Rosalie nodded her head and Jasper told Edward the address before snapping his phone shut.

"He'll be here in a few minutes," Jasper informed us.

"Oh, does he live around here?" Alice asked from right next to him on the loveseat across from the love seat I occupied on my own.

"No, actually. He lives on like the other side of town," Emmett answered, sitting closer to Rose than was necessary on the oversized couch they were sharing.

"Well then… how is he going to get here in a few minutes…?" Rosalie asked, cocking an eyebrow curiously.

"He likes to drive fast," Jasper said matter-of-factly.

"Wicked fast," Emmett added, smirking slightly.

"I like to go fast too," Rosalie said seductively, biting her lip in Emmett's direction.

"Right. Well, I'm gonna go to the bathroom," I said, standing up. Alice and Jasper were talking quietly, giggling every so often and Rosalie and Emmett were just staring at each other. They were so going to jump each other before the night was over. "Not that you care," I muttered as I left the room.

I walked into the downstairs bathroom, painted a wild Pepto-Bismol pink, with white towels and leaned my palms on the counter, staring at my reflection in the mirror.

As usual, my face was too pale, my hair a dull, common brown, perfectly matching the color of my eyes. I sighed and tugged at my shirt, contemplating going up to Rosalie's room and changing into something more comfortable. The girls probably wouldn't notice; they would be too caught up in the boys.

I left the bathroom and started walking toward the stairs just as the doorbell rang. I sighed, knowing that Rosalie and Alice weren't going to bother getting up. Turning around, I walked over to the front door and opened it. My breath caught in my throat as I saw Edward standing there, hands shoved deep in his pockets and his messy bronze hair strewn across his forehead. He had left the top two buttons of his button-down shirt undone, showing off his toned, tanned chest.

I tore my eyes from his chest and looked up at his face. His eyes were trained on my very exposed legs, making my heart flutter; maybe there was some hope for me after all. He jumped as if jolted by an electric shock and looked me in the eyes.

"Uh… hey," he cleared his throat.

"Hey, Edward. Come on in," I said, trying desperately to keep my voice from wavering, but I had the feeling that I failed at that feat when he walked through the door, smirking nervously at me. I closed the door behind him and led him into the living room. "Hey, look who decided to join the party," I said as we entered the room.

Everyone looked up at us and smiled. "Hey Edward," they chorused as I went to sit down on the love seat, Edward sitting next to me.

"Hey, what's up?" Edward answered.

"So, what was up this afternoon?" Jasper asked, leaning forward in his seat to hear what Edward said.

"Oh, Esme needed help with Madison," Edward said breezily. "Madison fell off the swings in the backyard and broke her arm and scratched her legs up pretty bad. She wouldn't calm down for Esme, so I had to go help."

"Who's Esme?" Alice asked curiously.

"My mom," Edward answered. "And Madison's my little sister. She's three."

"Aww, that's so adorable," Rosalie cooed. "And sad. Is she okay?"

"Oh. Yeah. I calmed her down and Esme and I drove her to the hospital where Carlisle, that's my dad, patched her up," Edward said. "We got back like an hour ago and Madison was a little shaken up still, so we put her to sleep."

"Aw, you're an awesome big brother," Alice said sweetly, sitting back on the couch, encompassed by Jasper's arm, which he had placed around the back of the loveseat while Edward was talking. They both looked a little startled, but smiled happily all the same and Alice leant further into Jasper's side contentedly.

Just like that, we were paired off; Jasper and Alice were in their own little world, flirting innocently while Rosalie and Emmett were heavier on the innuendo. Edward and I, however, remained distant.

"You call your parents by their first names?" I asked him at one point.

"Yeah. Well, they aren't my real parents." I had looked at him, confusion clearly etched on my face. "They adopted me when I was seven."

"Aww, I always thought adoption was really cool," I said. "Oh, man. I mean… not like that. Just that…"

"No, I know what you meant, Bella," Edward smiled reassuringly. "Adoption is a cool concept. I mean, kids whose parents don't want them or can't care for them get to go to better, more loving and capable parents. It sort of opens your eyes to the fact that there are really good people in this world."

"Yeah, exactly," I said, glad that he knew what I meant and wasn't offended or anything. "So, how old are your parents?"

"They were twenty when they adopted me, so they're thirty-one now," Edward answered with a smile.

"Oh. That's really young," I said. "They're only thirteen years older than us."

"Yeah, I know," Edward nodded his head. "They met when they were eighteen. Their first day in college, they met in their Biology lab. It was love at first sight. They got married a year later and wanted kids like right away, but they found out that Esme couldn't have kids, so they decided to adopt instead. They wanted a baby, but they saw me first and, apparently, I was a very personable seven-year old. Esme fell in love immediately, as did Carlisle, though I think he was more blinded by Esme's obvious affection towards me. So they decided to adopt me instead. They never even saw the little babies."

"That's such a cute story," I smiled. "So Madison is adopted too?"

"Yep. We just adopted like a year ago. She's awesome," Edward said happily. "They also adopted Ashleigh when they adopted me. They adopted us at the same time."

"How old is Ashleigh?" I asked.

"Twenty-seven," Edward answered matter-of-factly. I felt my eyes widen. "Yeah, she was sixteen, but she was like my older sister and I didn't want to leave without her, so they took both of us."

"They let them adopt someone that was only four years younger than them?" I asked.

"Apparently," Edward chuckled. "I mean, Ashleigh only lived with us for a few years before she went off to college and she visits every so often. We're all cool, but Esme and Carlisle are not as much her parents as they are mine. They're sort of like her older siblings."

"That's really… cool," I said.

"Yeah," Edward answered as I pulled out my phone to check on the time.

"Oh man, I have to get home. My dad will be there in an hour and I need to make dinner," I said, jumping up from the couch. Everyone turned to look at me.

"I should probably go too. I could give you a lift, if you want," Edward suggested kindly, standing up as well. I snuck a glance at Rosalie and Alice, both of whom were nodding fervently.

"Sure, thanks. That would be great," I said nervously. I would be alone… in a car… with Edward… gorgeous.

"Alright, well let's go," he said as we turned to say goodbye to everyone else.

"Bye guys!" Alice called after us.

"Oh! Don't forget about the party on Friday!" Rose shouted from the comfort of Emmett's strong arms.

"How could I? I've been roped into helping to plan it," I complained before I followed Edward out the door.

I followed Edward to his car, confused when he walked around to the passenger side and opened the door. Then I realized that he was holding it open for me. I blushed slightly and slid in the car, allowing him to close the door softly behind me.

"Thank you," I whispered as he slid gracefully into the driver's seat next to me.

"Sure thing," Edward said cheerfully, pulling out of the driveway and waiting for me to give him directions to my house.

We were talking softly, comfortably, about random unimportant things and it just felt natural, joking around with Edward. As I thought this, I glanced out the window and immediately closed my eyes, turning back to face the front, but not opening my eyes. My left hand was gripping the side of the seat firmly while my right hand clamped down on the door handle.

"Bella? Are you alright?" Edward asked suddenly. I opened my eyes briefly to see him glancing at me. He must have noticed my abrupt change in mood.

"Eyes on the road please!" I managed to squeak out, closing my eyes again.

"Bella, what's wrong?" Edward asked again, concern flooding his face.

"Nothing. It's just… Emmett and Jasper weren't kidding when they said you drove wicked fast," I choked out. Edward slowed the car considerably and I looked at him, grateful, but he was staring out the windshield, the corners of his mouth pulled up in a grin. I looked out the window and saw that we were already stopped in my driveway.

"Sorry, but it gets you where you need to go faster," Edward shrugged.

"Yes. And with a much lower chance of making it to your destination alive," I countered, my hand on the door handle. "Thanks again for the ride home. Really appreciate it, Edward."

"It was my pleasure," Edward said as I opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind me.

I heard the whir of the window rolling down and turned to look at Edward, who was leaning towards the passenger's window. "See you at school tomorrow!" he called out after me.

I smiled and waved briefly and hurried under the shelter of the porch just as raindrops started to fall from the sky. I unlocked the door and opened it, turning to wave Edward off, but he was already speeding down the drive.


	4. Chapter 4: The Party

**AN: Ok, here is the last chapter from _eddie. always. wins. _Past this point begins the lovely work of _Abbigail Cross_.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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-Bella's POV-

"Alright, so how's this party going to work? Just… everybody and anybody can come or are there going to be any exceptions?" Alice muttered under her breath as she glared over at Jessica and Lauren, who were sitting a few tables away from us, under a big shady tree in the school courtyard, eating their 'lunch' of energy bars and water.

"I really think if we want the whole school there, which Rose does," I said, glancing at Rosalie, who nodded her head approvingly, "we really have to invite Jessica. I mean, really, the only way that word could possibly spread around the school by tonight is if you tell Jess. I mean, face it. The girl's a gossip whore."

"Bell's got a point, Ali. Seriously, we bought so much freaking alcohol; we need as many people there as possible and we did not do a good job of spreading the word," Rosalie said grudgingly. "And, as much as I really do not want her anywhere near my house, Jessica is the best at spreading word about parties."

Alice groaned unhappily as I got up to throw away the paper label that I had subconsciously peeled from my water bottle.

"Want me to go over there and invite her while I'm up?" I asked. Alice rolled her eyes and nodded reluctantly as Rosalie looked on unhappily. "I'll be right back then."

I walked away from our table and tossed the paper in the trash can before making my way over to Jessica's table, trying to ignore the glares that Lauren was sending my way. I slid into the seat across from Jessica and plastered a fake smile on my face.

"Hey Bella! What's up?" Jessica exclaimed in her fake voice.

"Well actually, I wanted to invite you to this party tonight. It's going to be really big. Tons to drink, music, dancing, all that stuff. It's at Rosalie's house tonight after the game. Starts about nine and ends whenever the last person feels like leaving," I said as if pitching a business proposition to my boss.

"That sounds awesome," Jessica said seriously.

"Yeah, it's gonna rock. Spread the word?" I asked as I started to stand up.

"Sure thing. Thanks Bella!"

"No problem. Hey, you remember where Rose lives, right?" I asked just to make sure. Jessica nodded and turned to the girl next to Lauren to tell her about the party. I smiled, satisfied, and turned around to walk back to Alice and Rosalie, only to collide with something hard and impossibly sweet-smelling.

Before I could hit the ground or even stumble backwards, a pair of warm hands grabbed me around the waist, holding me steady.

"I'm so sorry, Bella," a familiar, velvety voice said frantically. I tried to wave the incident off, but my arms were being held in place by the firm grip he kept on me.

"No problem. I was long overdue for a humiliating reconciliation with the ground anyway," I said nervously as I gazed into Edward's beautiful green eyes. "You actually saved me from that. It was a nasty break up we went through. The ground's desperate to talk about it, but I'm just not feeling it, you know?"

I could feel myself beginning to blush as a smile crept onto Edward's face. I always babbled whenever I was embarrassed and my babbling never made any sense.

"You're a strange person, Isabella Swan," Edward chuckled as he slowly removed his hands from my waist. "But that's fine. I find normalcy to be highly overrated. Something having to do with being adopted, I'm sure. It probably doesn't help matters that Emmett is one of my best friends."

I laughed nervously. "Yeah, well you'd love my mom then. She's about as unordinary as it gets," I said. "That's where I get it. Actually, I get it from both sides. My dad's the klutz, but my mom's got the sharp wit. It's a nice mixture of the gene pool that gave me the perfect amount strangeness."

Grr. No filter, I'm telling you. I just babble on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and… Well, I think you get the point.

"Yeah," Edward smirked. Oh great, I just made it awkward. Perfect. "So that party Rosalie mentioned the other day… It's tonight?"

"Yep. Are you going?" I replied.

"That depends. Are you?" he asked. I felt my heart skip a beat and struggled to remain calm.

"Well I am kind of co-hosting it or whatever. Helping to plan it; whatever you want to call that," I answered. "So yeah."

"Well then I guess I'm going," Edward smiled as he backed away a little bit. "See you around," he called over his shoulder as he turned around and walked across the courtyard to find Jasper and Emmett, I'm sure.

I was smiling like an idiot, I just knew it. I shook my head slightly and turned to walk back over to Rosalie and Alice who were, of course, staring right back at me. As I slid back down into my seat, Alice opened her mouth excitedly.

"What did ya'll talk about?" she exclaimed, leaning across the table excitedly.

"Nothing much. Just what you sent me over there to talk about," I said, pretending I didn't know exactly whom she was referring to.

"What? We didn't send you over there to talk to…" Rosalie said. "Not Jessica! Edward, you idiot! What did you and Edward talk about?"

"Rose, I was kidding," I smiled. "Nothing really. I ran into him and he apologized, which doesn't really make sense. Then I said something about the ground and I breaking up and it was desperate to get back together or something. He called me strange and said that he liked strange. I started talking about my parents and them being the perfect mix of clumsy and witty to produce… me. Then he asked about the party and I told him I was going and he said 'well then, I guess I'm going.' What does that mean?"

"What does that mean?" Alice repeated disbelievingly. "Well first off, it means that you seriously need to learn to _edit_ your thoughts before you speak them, but other than that… he definitely likes you. That was like totally not subtle flirting there."

"Seriously Bella. You totally embarrassed the crap out of yourself there and he just smiled and… flirted. And you… tried… to flirt back. He definitely likes you; I agree. And as for that whole 'Are you going? Then so am I' thing just goes to prove it. I mean he didn't right out say that he wasn't going if you weren't, but he definitely said that you influenced his decision to go," Rosalie gave her input as I sat there, totally shell-shocked.

"You guys… there's no way he likes me. I mean, I'm…. me," I protested, disagreeing with my best friends' assessments of my conversation with Edward.

"Bella, you are ridiculous. You need to get over this whole 'I'm not good enough' mindset that you have. You're – and I mean this in a totally non-lesbian way, alright? – hot. There are a ton of guys at this school who want you. You're just too shy and innocent to notice," Alice said, making me blush as she spoke. I was never one to accept compliments well.

"Yeah, you have to realize that you aren't this awkward-looking pre-teen anymore, okay? You're a hot, cheerleading seventeen-year old and you need to start acting like it," Rosalie told me just as the bell rang, signaling for us to get to our next class.

Alice sighed. "We will finish this conversation later," she said menacingly as I nodded and turned to head off to my next class which I had with Edward, who I passed as he talked to Emmett and Jasper.

"Hey Bella," Edward said breathlessly as he caught up to me right outside the door of our dreaded Calculus class.

"Oh, hi," I said, turning to look at him.

"So, do you understand what's going on in Calculus?" he asked me, leaning against the door frame across from me. I could feel my brow furrowing; was he asking me for help? Fat chance that would work out. I would probably end up lowering his grade.

"Um, not really. I'm not good at math?" I said, still confused as to why he was asking me.

"Oh. Because you know we have a test on Monday and I was wondering if you wanted to study together. I understand the stuff pretty well; I could try to help you learn it," Edward said, shoving his hands into his pockets as I looked up at him, wide-eyed.

"That would be amazing!" I said happily. "I'm like failing this class. If you could help me, I would worship you!"

Edward smiled a goofy smile at me that made me blush lightly. "Well then… how about tomorrow?" he asked.

"Uh, sure," I said. I was spending the whole weekend at Rosalie's house to help clean up after the party, so my dad wouldn't have to know that I was studying with a boy.

"Sorry, but can I get through?" a timid voice asked from beside me and Edward. I looked around, realizing that Edward and I were blocking the door as I saw Angela Weber waiting to get in the class, looking embarrassed to have us looking at her.

"Sure, I'm really sorry," I said, stepping to the side as Edward moved slightly, smiling kindly at Angela as she passed him. Edward grinned at me and gestured me into the class where I took my traditional seat at the back of the class. Edward decided to shake things up a bit and moved from his desk in the middle of the first row to the seat right next to me. I bit my lip and smiled as I set my text book and notebook on my desk, fighting the urge to turn and just stare at him.

"Miss Swan, what is the answer to number 25?" Mr. Hernandez called out as soon as I had my book open. I jumped and looked down at the problem, but I didn't understand what it was saying. Darn those letters mixed in with numbers. I mean, seriously, why do we have to know Calculus? I'm good at basic math, but once I got past Geometry, my math tolerance hit an asymptote. See, a little math humor there...

I looked back up at Mr. Hernandez, opening my mouth to tell him that I didn't know, but his glare clearly told me that I wouldn't be getting out of this without at least trying. Sighing, I looked back down at the problem, picking up my pencil to try and work it out.

"One! It's one," Edward called out from next to me. I glanced over at him gratefully, but he was looking straight ahead at Mr. Hernandez.

Mr. Hernandez glared at Edward for a moment, clearly disappointed that he had saved me from certain embarrassment before acknowledging that Edward had in fact answered correctly.

"Explain how you got that, Mr. Cullen," Mr. Hernandez said in his thick Cuban accent.

"If you move the right side over to the left, you get the equation that they give us in the book and that's always one," Edward explained, looking over at me apologetically. He obviously thought that I would resent the fact that he had just made the problem that I didn't understand sound like a kindergartener could do it, but I was just relieved that I hadn't called out the answer I had gotten: 2 times the square root of 2. That would have been embarrassing.

Finally, after an hour and a half of struggling to pay attention to Mr. Hernandez, the bell rang signaling the end of the day. I gathered my books as quickly as possible after scribbling down the homework assignment and started for the door.

"Miss Swan!" I froze in the front of the fast-emptying class and turned to face the teacher I had come to loathe. "You do realize that you are in danger of failing this class, do you not?"

"Yes," I said through my teeth, painfully aware that Edward was taking his time packing up his books.

"If you don't get at least a B on this next test, I really doubt that you'll pass. That means no more cheerleading for you and we all know how much you love cheerleading. I'd really hate it if you got kicked off the squad for your poor grades in math," Mr. Hernandez said sarcastically. The man had made no attempt to hide his obvious contempt for anything having to do with cheerleading. Actually, I think he just hated me.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. I actually think I understand the material pretty well now. I don't think I'll have any trouble acing that test," I lied in an obviously fake sweet voice as I turned on my heel and stormed out of the classroom, fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Bella!" I groaned. I really didn't need Edward to see me crying right now, but I turned around to face him in the emptying hall anyway.

"Hernandez is an ass. Don't mind him. He really shouldn't have provoked you like that," Edward said sympathetically.

"Oh, I know. He's a world-class jerk. He just hates me because I'm a cheerleader and I know it. I have a theory. I think he got his heart broken by a cheerleader in high school and he's taking his revenge out on me," I said, rolling my eyes as Edward and I walked out of the building and across the courtyard toward the other building where our lockers were.

"That is actually a pretty believable theory," Edward chuckled and we fell silent for a moment before he spoke again, teasingly. "So you understand the material now?"

I rolled my eyes and gave him a playful shove. "Shut up. I had to say something to get him to lay off," I defended myself, smiling brightly up at him.

"No, no. It was an excellent story. Just not very plausible," Edward smirked at me.

"Well I guess you'll just have to teach me very well, huh?" I said as we turned the corner toward our lockers and I saw Alice waiting for me in front of my locker and Jasper leaning up against Edward's while Rosalie and Emmett were glued to each other's faces in the middle of the two. "What the-?"

"When did that happen?" Edward said as we both stopped in the middle of the hallway, staring at our friends in disbelief coupled with disgust.

"I don't know," I said as Alice came bounding over to me and grabbed my arm, pulling me to my locker, which she already had open and I put away the things I didn't need while taking out the things I did need. When I was ready to go, Alice jumped over to Rosalie and Emmett and grabbed Rosalie by the arm, pulling her away from Emmett.

"Come on! We have a party to set up for!" she shouted as she ran down the hall as fast as she could while dragging a reluctant Rose behind her and I brought up the rear.

Jasper, Emmett and I were leaning against the bus that was going to take us to the football game as we waited for Bella, Alice and Rosalie to get here. Ever since Jasper had told us that we were going to hang out with the girls on the bus, it had been all I could think about. I would get to sit with Bella.

Now, if only they would get here, everything would be great. The rest of the cheerleaders were already here (and Jessica Stanley was making googley at me, though I tried to ignore her).

"Alright people! Let's get on the bus!" Coach Vardeman shouted as the cheerleading coach tried to round up all the girls.

"Wait, what?" Emmett said, looking around as if expecting Rosalie to appear out of thin air while I just gaped. Jasper, ever the sensible one, walked up to the girls' coach.

"Are you sure everyone's here?" he asked her.

"What? Yes, of course I'm sure," the frazzled coach replied, looking down at her clipboard.

"But where are Al…" Jasper started to question, but was cut off by the coach.

"Alice, Rosalie and Bella are driving themselves here. Rosalie just called me to let me know that they were running late and wouldn't make it to school on time, so they'd just meet us at the school," she said hurriedly as she ushered the cheerleaders onto the bus first, making them go all the way to the back.

Emmett and Jasper looked at me, crest-fallen and I was sure I looked just as disappointed. I shrugged my shoulders and led the way onto the bus. I saw Jessica sitting towards the back, beckoning me over to her, but I sat down in the first seat available. Since there was only one empty seat near that one, Jasper slid in next to me since neither one of us would be able to share a seat with Emmett, whose broad form took up more than half of the seat.

Emmett plopped down in the seat in front of us, turning his body sideways so his back was resting against the window and his feet were up on the seat in front of his body. We traveled the whole way to the game in complete, disappointed silence as the mindless chatter of our teammates and the cheerleaders floated around us, but we weren't paying any attention.

"Guys, we need to stop freaking out about this. Sure it sucks that they didn't come, but we still have the party tonight to talk to them," I pointed out as the bus pulled into the parking lot of the opposing school to let us off by the field.

"You're right," Jasper nodded his head as we stood up and filed off of the bus, turning back to us once we were off. "Besides, we need to focus on winning this game and then we can go back to worrying about the girls."

"Mhm," Emmett mumbled, following us into the locker room where we changed into our football uniforms.

As we walked out of the locker rooms, I couldn't help but glance over where the cheerleaders were and saw Bell, Rosalie and Alice standing with the other girls, Bella and Rosalie looking slightly dejected while Alice was her usual bubbly self.

Bella looked up, her eyes immediately meeting mine and the corners of her mouth turned up into a grin. She turned to Rosalie and Alice, gesturing over to us as I got Emmett and Jasper's attention. Emmett looked around and saw Rosalie immediately and started to make his way over to her, although Coach Vardeman was already busy giving us our pre-game talk. Rosalie turned around and a smile lit up her face as she ran to meet Emmett halfway, their arms snaking their way around each other's bodies as they engaged in a passionate kiss.

Bella looked away, obviously feeling a little awkward as Alice started laughing and waved at Jasper, who grinned back at her.

"McCarty! Get over here!" Coach Vardeman shouted, making Emmett and Rosalie break apart as Emmett looked over his shoulder sheepishly as Coach glared at him. He gave Rosalie another quick kiss and jogged back over to the team, clearing his throat awkwardly as Coach shot him one last glare before continuing his boring 'inspirational' speech.

"So I take it you did ask her out?" Jasper whispered to Emmett, who nodded his head quickly. "And she said yes…?" Emmett nodded again, a huge smile crossing his face.

The house was packed as we walked in after going home to shower and change really fast after the game. Teenagers were milling around the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, even the bathroom, plastic cups in hands. Some were grinding against each other as the music thudded from the huge speakers set up around the house.

I looked around me, trying to spot Bella through the crowd of drunken teenagers, but I couldn't find her. I met up with Emmett and Jasper back in the kitchen after scouring the whole downstairs, but they were both looking just as confused as I was. Emmett looked at me questioningly, but I shook my head at him, raising my voice above the music.

"I can't find them," I said as Emmett looked exasperated and picked up a red cup and poured some mixture of alcohol into it. I looked at him questioningly, but he shrugged at me.

"Carpe diem," he said loudly as he tossed back the cup of pure alcohol, quickly spitting the liquid back out, spewing it into the sink. "Shit, that's disgusting!" he spat as he rinsed his mouth with water from the tap.

"Dude, you've never had any alcohol before and you decided to make your own concoction. Did you really think it would taste good?" Jasper rolled his eyes as I laughed helplessly beside him.

As I straightened out, a couple moved from the makeshift dance-floor to make out on one of the couches and I had a clear view up the staircase, where I saw the girls standing at the top of the stairs, surveying everything. Alice looked pleased with her handiwork, while Rosalie looked bored and Bella seemed worried. I knew that her father was the sheriff around here and figured she was probably worried that he would find out about the party.

I nudged Emmett and Jasper, nodding towards the stairs, and we started to walk towards the stairs. Rosalie's face immediately brightened as soon as she laid eyes on Emmett and she motioned for us to come upstairs with them.

Emmett ran up the stairs and swept Rosalie up in his arms, kissing her cheek as she giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. Jasper gave Alice a hug, which she sighed into, making it last longer than it would have with anyone else. I stood next to Bella, unsure of what to do as she looked up at me, smiling slightly.

"Hey," I said finally, noticing a brief flicker of disappointment as she realized that that was the only greeting she would get from me, but she covered it up quickly and smiled at me, giving her own quiet greeting that I could barely hear above the music.

"Let's go dance," I heard Alice tell Jasper as she pulled him down the stairs and looked around; Rosalie and Emmett seemed to have disappeared.

"So what's up?" I asked, at a loss for anything else to say. Bella shrugged her shoulders noncommittally and I sighed. This whole talking thing wasn't going too well. "Do you want to go outside and talk?"

"Sure," Bella said shyly, allowing me to take her hand and lead her down the stairs and out the back door. We weren't alone out here; there were a good few couples out here, pressed up against the house as they made out feverishly. I knew Bella was feeling a little awkward about being out here in this company, but she let me pull her through the large backyard to a secluded corner that no drunken couple had managed to find yet. She lowered herself down to the ground, splaying herself out over the dry cement and I looked down on her as the moonlight illuminated her, letting me notice what she was wearing for the first time tonight. She had on a pair of dark-wash skinny jeans and black high heeled wedge shoes (or whatever those things are called. Come on. I'm a guy. I don't know these things). But the shirt was what I liked the best on her. It was a dark blue color with think little straps over her shoulders. It hugged her on top, but flowed out towards the bottom.

I smiled as I lay down beside her and, resting my arms under my head as the noise from the house echoed around us softly as we stared up at the stars together.

"Bella," I whispered after entirely too long of a comfortable silence.

"Edward," she whispered back.

"I just wanted to tell you something," I said nervously, hoisting myself up on my elbow and turning on my side so that I was facing her as she mimicked my actions. Oh God, I was about to tell her I liked her. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to talk.

"Edward! Hi! Hi Edward! What are you doing here Edward? I'm so glad you came, Edward! You were so hot at the game, Edward!"

I cringed visibly and groaned as I heard the shrill, drunken voice of Jessica Stanley coming closer and closer to Bella and me. Bella breathed out a slight chuckle at my reaction, but I could tell she was annoyed at the interruption.

"Hi Edward!" Jessica said again as she sat down right next to me and leaned her face in closer to mine. The scent of alcohol hit me like a ton of bricks and had me cringing away from Jessica, closer to Bella of course.

I looked at Bella apologetically, but she just shrugged her shoulders.

"I've been looking for you, Edward," Jessica slurred, leaning even closer to me. I moved even closer to Bella so that our shoulders were touching now. Jessica leaned onto her hands for support as she tried to move even closer to me. "Do you wanna go inside and go upstairs with me?"

I heard Bella's sharp intake of breath from beside me as I cringed more visibly. This time, Jessica noticed me cringe and looked over my shoulder to see Bella sitting next to me.

"Oh, hi Bella," Jessica said, her voice much less friendly as she looked in between the two of us, her eyes zeroing in on my arm, which I had placed behind Bella's back to keep me from falling over. I guess that made it look like we were 'together' because Jessica sent a not-so-subtle glare at Bella. "So how about it Edward?" she asked in a would-be seductive voice.

I shook my head slowly from side-to-side and cleared my throat. "No thanks, Jessica. I, uh, I'm not up for… that… right now," I said awkwardly, feeling bad for turning her down and hoping I didn't hurt her feelings.

"Well fine. If you change your mind, come find me," Jessica winked as she stood up and wobbled her way back into the packed house.

I sighed deeply, glad to be rid of Jessica, and didn't move from my current position. I enjoyed being close to Bella far too much to move.

After a moment, Bella turned to look at me and raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure you don't want to take her up on that offer?" she said, smirking. "I mean, I would totally understand if you ditched me. I mean, what self-respecting teenaged boy wouldn't take sex with a drunken classmate over talking to a sober classmate?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed again. "No. I definitely don't want to go have mindless sex with _Jessica Stanley_," I murmured, more than a little embarrassed by the conversation.

"Well, who would you want to have mindless, meaningless sex with?" Bella asked. I grimaced at the question and was silent for a moment as I contemplated my answer.

"No one," I answered truthfully after a moment.

"Really…" Bella said skeptically, looking at me carefully.

"I don't want to have meaningless sex with anyone. When I finally do… have sex… I want to make love to her… I want it to mean something," I explained awkwardly.

"Oh," Bella said. "You're a virgin."

I couldn't help but feel a little offended, and flattered at the same time, by the surprise in her voice. "Yes," I answered.

"Oh," she said again. "I'm sorry. It's just… you don't seem like you would be." I raised my eyebrows at her and she continued. "I mean, you're very… appealing… and like every girl in the entire school wants to sleep with you so…"

I smiled as she trailed off, her blush more pronounced than ever before. "Every girl?" I questioned.

"Well, almost every girl. There are a few, I would assume, that wouldn't want to sleep with you. Like Angela, for instance. She's too shy. And Rosalie obviously wants in Emmett's pants. And Alice likes Jasper, so that's three," Bella said. I smiled happily when I realized that she hadn't mentioned herself in there.

"And you?" I asked softly as I leaned my face in closer to hers, looking in her eyes for her reaction.

"Me? Well… no. I suppose I don't want to sleep with you," she answered nervously and I couldn't stop the wounded expression that crossed my face. "I mean, I don't want to sleep with you because… I don't really know you that well… and I'm not going to just like sleep with the first guy that I like…"

I smiled widely. She just said she likes me. I saw her eyes widen and noticed the panic that engulfed them. I moved quickly, placing my mouth over hers and closed my eyes. I reveled in the soft feel of her lips beneath mine and moved my hand to caress her cheek softly, my other hand winding its way around her waist to pull her closer to me.

I pulled away slowly and opened my eyes to meet her dazed, glazed-over eyes. I rubbed my thumb against her cheek gently as I looked her in the eyes. "As I was saying before Jessica interrupted us, I wanted to tell you that I really, really like you."

Bella's eyes widened and she smiled happily as I leaned in to kiss her again.

"Would you like to be my girlfriend?" I asked nervously. Bella smiled and nodded her head quickly, obviously feeling too surprised to speak.

I laid back down on my side, pulling Bella down in front of me and pulled her closer to me and she wrapped her arms around my back and buried her head into my chest. I kissed the top of her head softly, rubbing her sides with the pads of my thumbs as I grinned like an idiot in the dark. This was too good to be true. I just knew I would wake up in a few minutes in my bed, my arms empty, but I was going to enjoy this dream while it was here.

I don't know how long we laid there, but I know that I never woke up. This was real. I was actually holding Bella in my arms. She really was my girlfriend. She liked me back.

We eventually got up from the ground and made our way back into the house to see if we could find any of our friends, but not before I kissed her again. I had a feeling I would never get tired of the way she tasted or the way she smelled like strawberries.

I immediately spotted Jessica pressed up against the wall by one of the other football players and heaved a sigh of relief that she wouldn't be bothering me tonight as I squeezed Bella's hand tighter. We squeezed our way through the living room and the dining room, not finding any of our friends in there and made our way to the kitchen where Bella grabbed a couple of bottles of water from the refrigerator and we made our way back into the living room.

"Come on. Let's go upstairs," Bella said, raising her face to my ear so I could hear her over the music. For a minute, I wondered what she meant by that and shook the very teenaged boy thought that came to mind. She had just told me she didn't want to sleep with me. I nodded and let her pull me through the crowd and up the stairs.

She led me down the hallway and stopped in front of a door and pushed it open to reveal Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and Jasper all sitting and talking.

"Bella! There you are!" Alice shouted as soon as we opened the door and came flying at us, ripping Bella from me and into a tight hug.

"I'm glad to see you too Alice," Bella said, "but why are you so very excited about me being here?"

"She's excited because she's Alice and she's always excited," Rosalie answered from Emmett's arms in a bed, which I assumed was hers.

"Very true," Bella answered, grabbing my hand again and leading me over to sit against the wall so we were facing the others as Alice pranced back over to Jasper and sat in his lap on the chair he was sitting in.

"So where were you guys?" Emmett asked, raising his eyebrows at me suggestively. I shot him a quick glare before I answered.

"We went outside. And I very nearly got raped by Jessica," I said, shuddering dramatically as I wrapped my arm around Bella's shoulders and pulled her closer to me, making her laugh.

"Dude, that's sick," Jasper chuckled. "You think she'd take the hint that you don't want to go out with her, but she just doesn't give up now, does she?"

"Apparently not. But she's gonna be taking some huge hints when we get back to school on Monday and she finds out I'm taken," I said smugly, giving Bella's shoulder a tight squeeze as she smiled up at me.

"Wait, are ya'll going out?" Rosalie asked, looking at Bella and I. Bella beamed up at her and nodded happily.

"I told you so!" Alice chirped, sticking her tongue out at Rosalie, who groaned. "Never bet against Alice!"

"Wait… bet? What did you bet this time?" Bella said warily.

"That if I was right I didn't have to help clean up tomorrow, but if Alice was right, she didn't have to clean up," Rosalie admitted as Bella threw her head back and groaned.

"That's not fair!" she whined. "Now I'm going to have to do all the work because God knows you aren't going to work!"

"I'll help you clean up," I offered. "And then we can go learn you some math."

"Oh God. Tomorrow is going to suck so bad!" Bella groaned, burying her face in my shoulder. "Cleaning the house _and_ math?"

"Hey, it won't be all bad. You'll have Edward to distract you from the big, bad math book," Alice joked.

"And what a fun distraction that will be," Rosalie added as Bella glared at her two best friends.


	5. Chapter 5: The Morning After

**AN: This chapter here is courtesy of _Abbigail Cross._ **

**Disclaimer: I still own absolutely nothing.**

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-Bella's POV-

I awoke in very familiar arms…not so familiar room. "Bella, your awake! Finally!" Alice shrieked as I untangled myself from Edward's arms.

Oh, now it was coming back. The party, the almost Edward rape by Jessica, oh and my favorite part the confessions from both of us.

"Yes. Now, why are you yelling at…" What time was it, anyway?

Rose stole a glance at the bedside clock, which was facing her, and stated, "It's 10:00, Bella. Time to get up." She had the nerve to smile. I mock glared at her.

I hadn't looked behind me yet, so when I went to kiss Edward, I saw a _giant _stuffed tarantula . I shrieked and hopped off the couch. Alice took that opportunity to grab my hand and drag me to the bathroom. I yelled, "Edward, save me!" He laughed at me.

When I came out of one of my personal hells, as I referred to all places where there were clothes, me, and Alice, I was actually looking presentable. No skimpy skirts, _today_, thank goodness. I had on a light blue, almost white, plain tank top, (It showed my midriff, just a little. Charlie would be pissed, but whatever.) a black leather fitted jacket, and a pair of regular denim dark blue jeans. Oh, and my flip flops.

I was supposed to be heading back home today, with Edward. Charlie wouldn't like him, so what. "Whoa, Bella. You look stunning!" Emmett said. His lips twitched and I could see him dying to laugh at his own false comment.

"Go ahead and laugh, Em. I grinned "Oh, and you two can join in, too." I said, when I turned around and saw Jasper and Rosalie trying not to laugh.

They didn't need to be told twice. A minute later it was quiet until Emmett said, "Don't think we've forgotten about the deal to clean up today, guys." Bella and Rose groaned (even though Rose was just going to sit and watch most of the time.)

I stood up, intent on getting the task done early, when Edward said, "Actually, Bella can't clean today. She is going home to see her father." I could've squealed with joy.

Jasper, who had been silent the entire time since laughing at me said, "And how do you know she isn't lying, Eddie boy?" He didn't.

"Oh, Jasper, are you always so dense?" asked Alice.

"Huh?" I laughed at the confused look on Jasper's face. "Oh! Congrats, Bella. You taking Eddie boy, here to meet your dear old dad."

I was sure I couldn't get any redder. Edward wasn't supposed to know yet. I walked over to Jasper and whacked him upside the head, and said, "You are an I-DI-OT, Jasper. ARG!"

"Um, why is Jasper an idiot and what am I missing?" asked Edward.

"Well…Bella decided that…" Ali trailed off.

Rose picked up, "When you took her home, she would-" I slapped my hand over the cheerleader's mouth, effectively stopping her from blurting out, however graceful it may be, my intentions for Edward and my father.

"Edward. The only thing I was gonna do was introduce you to my father.-" Alice and Rose cut me off.

They both, at the same time said, "Did Bella mention that her father is dead set on making sure she has no boyfriend until after this year? And that he'll literally try and castrate you if you get even close enough for a handshake?" They giggled a bit. I groaned.

I said, "He's not really gonna castrate ya'll. That is, if you don't count not being within hugging distance of me, as castration. Anyway, Ali, Rose, I wasn't going to introduce Edward as my boyfriend… yet. I was just going to introduce him as a new friend."

Edward, I guess after being in a battle like state of shock, presumably because of not being able to hug me, or worst yet, kiss me, finally said, "So… what? We'll not be together for the whole year?"

I sighed and said, "I think we can still be together, just not while we're around Charlie."

Edward looked surprised at me, then when he got his composer back said, "I think we need to go, Bella. I still have to 'keep you safe from the big bad math book', and meet your father." I said, "Bye, guys." They all chorused a "bye" at our backs.

-Edward's POV-

When Bella awoke I was behind her. I loosened my grip, but she stayed sitting on the floor. She must have remembered to previous night, because she smiled and then kissed my wrist.

Bella asked Ali what was so good at being hyper, or something like that at… She stopped. I wondered why when suddenly Rose said it was 10:00.

Bella turned to kiss me, and I reached behind me, when she wasn't looking and grabbed the stuffed Tarantula, and she shrieked and hopped up. I wouldn't of done that but Alice was getting mad that Bella wasn't dressed. Alice saw that Bella was up and grabbed her hand. I laughed at Bella's attempts of escape.

When Bella came out of Rose's bathroom, my jaw dropped and I couldn't think. Any girl could've dressed like that, but Bella took ordinary for a ride and came back with extraordinary. The shirt showed part of her cute flat stomach, and the jeans were tight, but not too tight.

Emmett, and Rosalie, along with Jasper, started laughing at something about Bella. I hadn't heard, because I was so focused on my cheerleader girlfriend. Alice started saying something about Bella but Rose cut her off. Bella cut Rose off, then Bella said that she was taking me to meet her father. I inwardly cringed.

'How would he like me? Would he like me? Would Bella dump me if He didn't? Would she care what he thought?' My mind was in overdrive. Bella then corrected herself and said that she wasn't going to introduce me as her boyfriend….what was I to her then?

I asked if we would continue to date or not, and she said that we would, but around Charlie we would have to be just friends. Not hard, right? Wrong. It would be hard to not hold her in my arms, but I would manage.

Then I asked, or maybe stated is a better word, that we should go. She nodded and said goodbye. We left.


	6. Chapter 6: Meeting Charlie and an escape

**AN: Okay, once again, we have _Abbigail Cross_ to thank for this wonderful chapter. **

**Disclaimer: Do I own anything yet?... Let's see... Nope! **

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-Bella's POV-

I walked out to Edward's car and put my stuff in the back. Edward was already at his door.

"So, Bella. You said you weren't gonna announce me as your boyfriend now. Are you ever?" I could here the hurt in his voice. Should I tell him that wasn't my real plan? Yes, I was going to tell him.

"Edward." I started, just to get his attention. "Edward, that's not my real plan. My real plan is to say you're my boyfriend, then see how my father takes it. It'll be a challenge. Don't you like a challenge?"

Edward grinned. "A challenge feels just right, about now. I can't wait to shake up the school on Monday!"

I nodded with a grin. I could wait, but that was just my nerves talking.

All to soon, we were at Charlie's house. Dad's house, I corrected my attempt to unrelate us from one another.

I prolonged my walk to the door, leisurely taking in the late morning clouds. Edward's hand was on my back as it should be, guiding me.

Suddenly, I remembered what day it was.

"Edward, Charlie is ou-" I started, but was cut off by Edward's hand on my mouth, stopping any speech.

His other hand's index finger went to his lips; effectively telling me to make no sound.

Edward removed his hand from my mouth. I sucked in air, grateful for it. I turned back toward Edward and raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

Edward understood what I was asking. He cupped a hand around his ear, telling me, non verbally, to listen.

What I heard freaked me out. There were noises coming from inside the house, as though my father was being pleasured.

"Eww. Horrible mental image." I mumbled to Edward, who grimaced.

I entered the house, where I'd spent hardly any of my time over the past year. I shut the door loudly. This was to alert the people inside.

All sounds stopped. I looked to my right. Edward was still.

A moment later Charlie entered the front of the house with only boxers and his pistol. Both Edward and I took measured steps backward.

"What are you doing here, Bells? Your not supposed to be here." He said, slurring his words slightly.

Charlie was drunk. Oh god.

"Why aren't I supposed to be here, Dad? Is it because you have a girl over? Or because you didn't expect me?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Suddenly, I saw Charlie's glazed over eyes shift. They settled on Edward. The pistol was pointed at his heart now.

"Why are you with my daughter? Are you her boyfriend?" He asked Edward.

Before Edward could answer, Charlie's questions were directed at me. Great, an interrogation.

"Who is this boy? Is he your boyfriend? What have I told you about getting a boyfriend?"

I held up my hand to stop anymore questions. I looked to Edward to see his reaction.

"Edward Cullen is a football player at the campus. Yes, he is my boyfriend. We will go out. I don't care what you think. Oh, and also, who's the girl back there?"

Apparently she'd been listening. She stepped out of the hallway. I gasped.

It was Lauren Mallory's mom.

I saw Edward's face out of the corner of my eye. His jaw was slack.

"Dad, why are you with her? She's married and… she's married." I finished, lamely.

"Bells, she's cleaning my cuts from a bad fall nothing more."

I needed to counter that. 'What were the noises coming from your room then? They didn't sound like cleaning a cut."

He looked down at the blue carpet on the floor, undoubtedly coming up with another excuse.

"We were discussing movie's she and I both like the same ones. She squealed. When she was saying more, she wanted to see more of our movies."

I rolled my eyes, but let it go. I turned my attention to Edward.

"Dad, this is Edward Cullen. We are going out. I don't care if you don't like it." I repeated this, just to make sure he knew.

"No, Bella! I told you after this year! You agreed!" He yelled after me as I walked into the kitchen, looking for an escape. Edward followed me.

"That was when I didn't know I would meet someone so great."

I thought back to when I'd first met Edward:

**Flashback**

_ I was a newbie cheerleader. So were Ali and Rose. We were at our first game, the day after our second competition. That's when we all saw our future husbands. _

_ Twenty minutes after the game, I wasn't changed yet. I left the locker room to get fresh air._

_ I bumped into someone suddenly. I was prepared to hit the slippery concrete. It'd rained yesterday, the walkways were still slippery._

_ Suddenly, arms wrapped around my waist. I was in heaven… for about two seconds._

_ I looked up into beautiful eyes of shimmery green._

_ They belonged to the star running back, I noted. He looked at me with the same 'I'm in heaven' expression. Could he really feel the same?_

_ Too soon, he let me go from is grasp. He studied my face before talking to me._

_ "Are you ok, Isabella?" He asked me, the cutest concerned look on his face._

_ I nodded. "You can call me Bella. All my friends do."_

_ He nodded and went on his way._

**End flashback**

I stared at my dad. He looked like a fish out of water. Not a good look for him.

When he'd gotten his voice back, or thought of something to say, he opened his mouth fully.

"Bella, I said no. You will not see this boy. I don't give a rats patootie who he is. You will not see him." His words were slurred even more ow, his anger was building. Not good.

I grabbed Edward's arm and we walked briskly out the kitchens' back door.

-Edward's POV-

Bella and I got into my Volvo. I asked her what she was going to call me when talking to her father.

She said that what she'd told Ali and Rose wasn't the truth. She was going to call me her boyfriend, and that she really didn't care what her father thought.

I grinned. She'd said this would be a challenge. I like challenges' she knew.

All to soon for both of us, we were at Charlie's house. I could tell from Bella's slump of her shoulders' she didn't want to be here.

Suddenly, I heard a noise. Was it…. Eww. Mr. Swan was being pleasured. Gross.

I stopped Bella from talking with a hand on her mouth. She obeyed me. Then I cupped a hand to my ear and effectively got her to listen.

She heard it too. I really knew when she mumbled, " Eww. Horrible metal image."

I grimaced, sympathizing with her. That was a gross mental image, even if I didn't know the guy.

We both entered the house. I heard, rather than saw Bella close the door louder than was necessary. I figured it was to let the occupants know they weren't alone.

Mr. Swan came out in boxers, and a pistol in his hand. No shirt or pants. That was gross.

While Bella and her dad conversed, I searched for a way out. I didn't see one. Great.

Suddenly, questions were being fired at me.

"Why are you with my daughter? Are you her boyfriend?" He fired at me, unrelenting, until he turned his tirade onto Bella.

I stopped listening then. I was thinking of a way to escape.

Suddenly, Lauren Mallory's mom stepped out of the shadowed hallway. My jaw went slack.

Why was she here? I asked myself a couple of times.

I heard Bella ask Charlie. I heard him rattle on about cut cleaning or something. I could tell Bella thought it was a lie.

She repeated about us being together, I guess to make sure he got it.

Then she walked into the kitchen. They started talking again, I didn't interrupt. When they'd finished their argument, Bella grabbed my arm and we walked hurriedly out the house and to the car.

* * *

**From here on out, it will be all me. So, wish me luck. Hopefully I won't totally kill this story with my writing style. =)**

**~Twilightfan2694~  
**


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